My Dearest Nemesis

So much good but yet so draggy... and cringe.

A drama that could have been so good but managed to become draggy and meeh even though it only had 12 episodes.
The best part about this drama is the combination of its cast reuniting some of my beloved actors/actresses from dramas I have loved before.

Im Se Mi, Mun Ka Young and a flash of Oh Eui Shik from True Beauty an d Son Sang Yeon and Choi Hyun Wook from Racket Boys. Was a true pleasure to watch and honestly sp where the rest of the side characters. Interesting, fun no one was to muc over the top and the only yelling and over the top mimics where preformed by Mun Ka Young.
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The story had a lot of pottental a lovable cliche with a twist and a really cool bad ass female lead that has worked hard and refuses to bow down to oppressors... With an I don't care if Im poor or a woman, I have worked hard and so should you type of attitude a true super woman who can fix anything and do anything... However she also has this awkwerd bad lier aura that had me rolling my eyes one to many times.

Our male lead is a adorable, bubbly and cold, rich, sweet but also slightly pathetic... at times in a good way but other times he just feels off.

The twists where rushed yet still felt draggy, the monologs where not only repetitive but seemed to never end.... And though I wanted to give Im Se Mi a 10 for being all round fun to watch I just could not overlook the rest.

However it is an okay binge, there is a lot of good in it and and sweet, cool moments in more or lesss every corner. Just mind the draggy parts and the cringe in the second half of the drama and you should be fine.

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A Bland Tasteless Beige

As avid drama watchers, I believe we are all used to watching certain themes, tropes and plot lines repeat themselves. Sometimes, they are just average, sometimes, they surprise us. This time, it disappointed.

When I first heard of this drama, I simply heard that the actors were cast together and a simple description of the plot. Perhaps, I went into this with better than average expectations, since I knew the actors had a wide range of acting skill, and the plot had interesting niche's that are popular with many societies, but still under represented - gaming, rock music, comics etc.

This drama took all those exciting opportunities and made the most boring bland show ever:
- the niche hobbies were thrown away and only appeared when needed to prove that ML was "different" and most of the show it wasn't a FL loves ML for his quirks, but 15/16 episodes it was FL "tolerates" ML's quirks. I thought it would be such a great opportunity to show girls too are interested in games and comics, but instead they made her so stereotypicaly boring, even though most bullied kids have a hobby to release their frustration.

- the bullying and family issues were useless and held no value. The family issue got solved in the last ep because two people saying something apparently made someone go 180 degrees in their entire personality? The bullying added no value, empathy or any sort of character growth. Usually these issues hold some learning experience, instead they just created unnecessary drama and waste of viewers time, one that could've explored their relationship dynamics more.

- the jokes and tropes were so stereotypical to the rich male, poor female theme, when they had SO many more to explore - gaming tropes, young bf older gf tropes....

This was so disappointing, because even though drama's like "Business Proposal" or "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?" are a repetitive beige, they're a soft, warm, comforting beige that makes you feel nice inside. If it hadn't been beige, if it had actually delved into those under-represented niche's with lore and references we'd get, it could've held so much potential.

The acting was restricted to the boring and uninteresting characters the writers made, so even their talent couldn't outshine this mess. The music was forgetful, and the only salvaging moments were the 2nd couple. Overall, I regret starting this drama, and the last four episodes I had to watch 2x speed just to get through them.

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one of the funniest dramas i've seen in awhile!

honestly, i haven't been able to get into many k-dramas recently, but this one was a really fun one to get into! this one has a good balance of office romance and comedy, giving it a lighthearted feel. i was wondering about how good the chemistry between the lead actors would be, but it was honestly perfect, especially for the age gap they're acting as. i loved seeing the characters' interests outside of the office, as it can be relatable to many as well, and they way it was acted out made it very comedic too. props to the writers as there were parts where i wondered, "how would this get resolved?", but it was played out nicely. also, the pacing of the show is really good! the second couple felt more realistic compared to the leads, giving it a nice contrast, and their support towards the leading couple was great. the other support roles had great actors, they held up the show really well!

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What a nostalgic kdrama! ❤️

I loved this series so much! It has everything I love and want from kdrama! If you enjoyed watching- business proposal, shooting star or what’s wrong with secretary Kim, you will definitely love this kdrama too!

I loved that fl didn’t really care about him being young than her, she liked him the way he was without any context. The past story was funny. I didn’t understand why she got so angry at first when she found out who he was, but after some time I thought that maybe I would have been angry too so I don’t blame her. Even though thay had a brake up moment, it was so short and didn’t really made me feel sad.

The second couple 💗💗 I love themm! They are so cute! Their story is also vary toutching! Loved how they understood that thay can not live without each other!

The grand mother story.. I hated her and still do! Even though she apologized that means nothing! she abused ml and was the worst person to him when he needed her the most! unfortunately we have this type of family relationship pretty often in korean series and they all end when someone apologizes, but we should understand that it’s not that easy to forgive someone. Let’s not normalize this type of actions!

Overall I highly recommend you to watch this kdrama, if you want to see office love, golden retriever and black cat love and helping each other healing type of love! ❤️‍🩹 It was beautiful journey, Thank you! 🩷

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Nice and enjoyable Office romance (in a "What's wrong with..." style) :)

PLOT: The FL, a distraught high school girl, clings to the ML she met in a game... But during the meeting IRL, she's extremely disappointed/angry to discover a young middle schooler! Years later, she meets him again as a director in her company. They gradually make peace, collaborate, fall in love again (despite their differences)... and heal from their traumas.

+++ Excellent CL (Mun Ka Young & Choi Hyun Wook in a "Park Seo Joon style" :), very cute, with great chemistry.
+++ CL2 is more mature and very endearing
+++ Directed without length (12 episodes) with beautiful cinematography
+++ Story a bit "Dramaland" (but no Great Villain, nor a love triangle).

### A few inconsistencies in the story (FL's moods, ML's grandmother's behavior, etc.)

=> Short, enjoyable series, supported by the CL's talent.
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PLOT: La FL lycéenne en plein désarroi, se raccroche à un ML rencontré ds 1 jeu... Mais lors de la rencontre IRL, elle est super déçue/ fachée de découvrir un jeune collégien ! Des années + tard, elle le retrouve comme Directeur ds sa Cie. Ils vont peu à peu faire la paix, collaborer, retomber amoureux (malgré leurs différences) ... et guérir de leurs traumas.

+++ Excellent CL (Mun Ka Young & Choi Hyun Wook dans 1 style Park Seo Joon :), très cute, avec 1 belle alchimie.
+++ CL2 plus mature, très attachant
+++ Réalis° sans longueur (12 ép) avec belle cinématographie
+++ Story un peu Dramaland (mais pas de Great Villain, ni de love triangle).

### Qq inconsistances ds la story (humeurs de la FL, comportement de la gd-mère du ML, ...)

=> Série courte, agréable, reposant sur les épaules du CL

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Second Chance Love with a Side of Nerdom I'm Here for It!

This series looked cute from the trailers, but I ended up enjoying it so much more than I expected.

One of the things I loved most was that Baek Su Jeong, for better or worse, was always true to herself. She was a strong female character, competitive, hard-working, and didn't shy away from difficulties. I also really related to Ban Ju Yeon's fanboy tendencies and his struggle to balance professionalism with his love for various fandoms and rock culture. I appreciate the idea of holding on to the hobbies that bring us joy and thankfully, nerd culture is more widely accepted for most of us - though maybe not as much in chaebol circles!

The connection between Baek Su Jeong and Ban Ju Yeon was fun to watch. Even in their moments of conflict, you could still feel the bond they had, one that was already established from their early video game days. And I think the age gap story line was refreshing.

Also, I have never hated a grandma more in my life! If you’ve seen the show, you probably know exactly what I mean. While I’m glad things were reconciled in the end, I still can’t say I’m a fan LOL.

I might still be wearing rose covered glasses from finishing it, but overall, I looked forward to this drama every week. Between this and Study Group, I finally got over my K-drama slump. It’s definitely making my rewatch list!

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My Dearest Nemesis? More Like My Mildest Nuisance

I dove into this drama without reading any reviews (a bold move, I know), purely because I love both lead actors - and Im Semi is always a treat. I’d seen the male lead in Twinkling Watermelon, Weak Hero, and Taxi Driver, where he nailed that cool, aloof, bad boy vibe. So imagine my surprise when he showed up here as a “CEO” who felt less like a corporate powerhouse and more like... an overconfident intern in a slightly oversized suit.

It took me a solid 7 episodes to even accept him as a CEO. Instead of exuding the classic icy chaebol energy, his performance leaned awkwardly into “mature but childish,” which is a hard balance to strike - and here, it just didn’t land. Honestly, a better choice would’ve been to lean fully into a bratty, mischievous chaebol who can turn on the authority when needed. At least that would’ve felt intentional.

Because of his character's awkward execution, the chemistry between him and the female lead was about as compatible as oil and water at a job interview. I kept waiting for a spark - anything - but it just never ignited.

And the direction? Flat as a pancake. With no syrup.

The story itself is your classic rich guy, poor girl romcom cliché - but stripped of actual plot. It felt like the scriptwriters decided the leads should fall in love purely through excessive eye contact. No real build up, no conflict with weight - just intense staring. So much staring. I lost count. Honestly, if you stitched all their stare offs together, you’d probably get a whole bonus episode out of it.

Okay, I get it - every drama needs a villain to stir the pot. But this one? An evil old lady tormenting her only grandson because his dad died while doing something perfectly normal - driving him to a hobby he enjoyed? That’s just peak melodrama nonsense. Of course a parent would drive their kid. Who else is supposed to - the neighbour’s dog? I mean yes, unfortunately, people like her do exist in real life, but honestly, I’d rather be disowned and free than tiptoe around my own interests just to appease a bitter matriarch with misplaced grief. Watching the poor guy suffer under her tyranny was more frustrating than dramatic.

And don’t even get me started on the trauma angle. Look, I’ve done my fair share of online dating - enough to write a spin off series - and sure, some of it was tragic, maybe even a little horrifying. But life scarring? Please. The way this drama paints a childhood online dating mishap from ten full years ago as the defining emotional wound of their adult lives? Absolutely not. If I bumped into one of my old immature dates now, all grown up and evolved, we’d have a laugh, maybe apologise, and move on like adults. I’ve seen married couples survive much worse - betrayal, midlife crises, in-laws from hell - and still manage to live peacefully for decades. If your biggest relationship trauma is a messy teenage chatroom, then you’ve honestly had a pretty smooth ride.

Anyway, I’m officially tapping out at episode 8. Not because I hate it, but because I’ve found something more interesting - which, frankly, didn’t take much. It’s 2025, people. We’re spoilt for choice with dramas, and this rich-boy-meets-girl formula has been done to death and resurrected more times than I can count. If you’re going to recycle the trope, at least give it some spice. This one just didn’t have enough flavour to keep me hooked.

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Breaking the Romcom Mold: The Emotional Majesty of My Dearest Nemesis

My Dearest Nemesis is the kind of drama that takes the well-worn romcom blueprint, scrawls its own emotional manifesto all over it, and then hands it back to you with a smirk and a promise to shatter your expectations. It’s a classic premise delivered with such gut-wrenching emotional intelligence that even its predictability becomes a strength rather than a flaw.

The premise itself seems lighthearted enough. As a high school senior, Baek Su-jeong stumbled into an online friendship with another player nicknamed “Black Dragon.” What began as a simple, playful interaction gradually morphed into something deeper, an innocent and tentative crush that both characters hoped to see blossom in real life. But like a cruel joke delivered with a straight face, their meeting concluded not in joy, but in utter humiliation. Black Dragon, as it turned out, was not the charming older boy Su-jeong imagined, but an awkward middle schooler still growing into his own skin. Sixteen years later, Baek Su-jeong, now a skilled planner at Yongseong Department Store, finds herself colliding once again with her past. Ban-ju Yeon, the ambitious new head of strategic planning and heir to the company, is none other than Black Dragon himself.

What makes My Dearest Nemesis shine is not just the chemistry between its leads but the emotional authenticity they bring to their roles. Mun Ka-young is effortlessly captivating as Baek Su-Jeong. There’s a strength and vulnerability to her portrayal that feels grounded in real pain and real triumph. Su Jeong’s fierceness, her refusal to be looked down upon or underestimated, isn’t just a surface-level trait—it’s a survival mechanism, something she built brick by brick to fortify herself against a world that often demands more than it gives. Mun Ka-young delivers this layered performance with such precision that it’s impossible not to feel the full weight of her struggle. She is the kind of strong female lead that resonates on a deeper level because her strength is earned and her pain acknowledged.

Choi Hyun-wook, meanwhile, delivers a performance that feels like a revelation. At first glance, his baby-faced appearance seems almost at odds with the cold, calculating chaebol heir he’s supposed to embody. And yet, his portrayal of Ban Ju-yeon is so heartbreakingly sincere that all doubts are quickly erased. Ju-yeon is a character born into a world where affection is transactional, where love is a commodity to be leveraged or withheld for strategic advantage. His entire existence is shaped by the need to prove his worth, to craft a perfect exterior that conceals the fractured boy within.

Ju-yeon’s journey is a desperate scramble for validation, an endless attempt to be seen, loved, and acknowledged by a family that prizes success over sentiment. And the irony is that his most authentic self—the awkward, nerdy boy who found joy in an online game—has always been hidden away like a shameful secret. Watching Choi Hyun-wook peel back those layers is nothing short of mesmerizing. It’s a performance that demands empathy and rewards patience, and the chemistry between him and Mun Ka-young only serves to enhance it.

The supporting characters are also brilliantly portrayed. Im Se-mi as Seo Ha-jin and Kwak Si-yang as Kim Shin-won provide a more mature and grounded love story that perfectly complements the chaotic romance of our main couple. Their relationship feels like a testament to the idea that love, when nurtured and respected, can flourish even under the harshest conditions. They are not merely there to fill the screen with secondary conflicts or cheap drama; their love story is given the space and care it deserves, adding richness to the overall narrative.

Perhaps the most surprising element of My Dearest Nemesis is its emotional depth. While it embraces the expected tropes of the genre, it does so with a sincerity and complexity that elevates it above mere fluff. Episode 9, in particular, is an emotional nuke that leaves both the characters and the audience in tatters. The breakup between Su-jeong and Ju-yeon isn’t just about romance—it’s about identity, validation, and the destruction of carefully constructed facades. Ju-yeon isn’t merely losing a girlfriend; he’s losing his emotional lifelines, his secret joys, his sanctuary. It’s a brutal, surgical removal of everything that makes him feel alive.

The brilliance of My Dearest Nemesis lies in how it uses this heartbreak as a catalyst for growth rather than as a cheap plot device. It’s rare for a romcom to dive so deeply into the emotional psyche of its characters, but this drama does so unapologetically. And while the storyline may be predictable in its broad strokes, the emotional execution is anything but.

Visually, the drama is a feast for the eyes. Its use of bright colors, well-lit nighttime scenes, and perfectly timed slow-motion shots creates a romantic atmosphere that feels both enchanting and authentic. One of the most memorable scenes is the second kiss between Su-jeong and Ju-yeon, where the camera lingers on Mun Ka-young’s face as a single tear rolls down her cheek. It’s a beautiful, devastating moment that perfectly encapsulates the emotional stakes of their relationship.

The soundtrack is equally impressive. With Sondia’s melancholic “Whispers to the Night” providing the emotional core and LUCY and Riot Kidz injecting energy with their punk-rock beats, the music feels like an extension of the characters’ emotional journeys. It’s a soundtrack that knows when to swell and when to retreat, allowing the actors’ performances to shine.

While My Dearest Nemesis is not without its flaws—the excessive product placement being a glaring one—it more than compensates with its emotional resonance and tightly woven narrative. The fact that it manages to wrap everything up so satisfyingly in a 12-episode run is a testament to its storytelling prowess. The happy ending feels earned, not just for the main couple but for every supporting character whose journey intersects with theirs.

This drama made me laugh. It made me scream. It made me grieve. And in the end, it made me believe in something greater than romance—it made me believe in the power of being seen. That at its core, love is about freedom—the freedom to like what you like, to love what you love, and to devote yourself fully to something without shame or hesitation

Verdict:
Good romcoms aren’t just about the fluff and cute moments—they’re about characters, growth, and emotional stakes. My Dearest Nemesis achieves all of this with grace and confidence, delivering an experience that feels both fresh and timeless. It may not reinvent the wheel, but it polishes it to a dazzling shine. For me, it has dethroned King The Land as my top pure romcom, proving that emotional depth and satisfying storytelling are not mutually exclusive. My Dearest Nemesis has set a new standard, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Score: 9.5/10

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